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(1922–1983). American actor.
Oakland
was first conspicuous in the painfully anticlimactic conclusion of Psycho,
egregiously miscast, it would seem, as the understanding psychologist who
untangles and explicates at extreme length the twisted psyche of Norman Bates.
Many critics have wondered why a master director like Alfred
HITCHCOCK would spoil his
brilliant film with this clumsy expository denouément, but his choice of a
limited actor like Oakland for the role suggests that he did so to make a
point: since our soulless contemporary world destroys or maddens all the warm,
sensitive people we might like and care about, like those played by Janet Leigh
and Tony Perkins, we are left to endure the company of cold, insensitive people
we cannot like and cannot care about, like the man played by Oakland. As
Hitchcock was sometimes willing to treat his actresses in a sadistic manner, he
resolved to treat his viewers in a sadistic manner, tormenting them with
Oakland's interminable tirade in order to epitomize the utter wretchedness of the people
they now must deal with in their own daily lives. Does anyone have a better
theory as to why Simon Oakland ended up in that scene, and why he was allowed
to play the role so unappealingly?
A decade later, Oakland co-starred in two
television movies, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler,
that soon led to a series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, best described to
contemporary viewers as what The X-Files would have been like if Chris
CARTER had elected to cast two homely, middle-aged men as Mulder and Scully. As
Darren MCGAVIN's credulous reporter enthusiastically investigated one strange
phenomenon after another, it was Oakland's task as his skeptical editor to
snarl and treat him like a fool—the perfect marriage of a one-note actor and a
one-note role. All in all, it's hard to make a series featuring vampires,
zombies, and aliens boring, but somehow, McGavin and Oakland pulled it off.
Oakland might be esteemed simply because of
his innumerable performances in a variety of venues, including cop shows (Felony
Squad, Kojak, Police Story), courtroom dramas (Perry Mason, The
Defenders, Judd for the Defense), comedies (My Favorite Martian,
Car 54, Where Are You?, Captain Nice), medical dramas (Ben Casey,
The Nurses, Quincy, M.E.), westerns (Have Gun—Will Travel,
Laramie, Wagon Train), and even a musical (On a Clear Day You
Can See Forever); but while he was always competent, he was rarely
memorable. If properly cast as a scoundrel or soldier, he might be effective, as
demonstrated by his roles as a double-crossing gangster and submarine captain
in two episodes of The Twilight Zone, "The Rip Van Winkle
Caper" and "The Thirty-Fathom Grave." But Oakland's inadequate
performance as a research scientist in "Quarantine," an episode of Men into
Space, seemingly demonstrates that he couldn't appear sympathetic or
intelligent on the screen. Still, if one wishes to argue that Oakland had
abilities beyond those he normally displayed, there is one piece of evidence:
his standout performance in The Outer Limits episode "Second Chance."
Completely unrecognizable in monster makeup, and thus forced out of his usual
habits, he gave an involving and surprisingly touching performance as an alien
attempting to recruit humans to abandon Earth and colonize another planet. Perhaps
Simon Oakland should have worn a rubber mask more often.
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